For anybody on this board looking for lower cost vet care, I have one suggestion - find a farm vet!! Even if you live in the city, the cost of the road trip to the "outer limits." may be worth it. My farm vet charges about half the price for the same sevices as the townie vets. He is good at what he does too. My only animal that goes to town for the vet is my dog, and that is because he sees a neurologist.
And the smartest thing I ever did for my dog was buy him a cheap health insurance policy. I pay $24.95 per month, and he is locked into that price forever. They pay up to $220 per year for routine and preventative care (spay/neuter, dental, shots, heartworm, frontline, etc) and he has major medical and prescription coverage. When he was diagnosed with epilepsy/hydrocephalus, the bills didn't kill us. Even if he didn't get the hydrocephalus I would be money ahead if I just got the routine preventative stuff done and he had one or two ear infections or other minor sickness. I always suggest to my friends that they look into similar coverage for their dogs. None of us would think anything of paying $20 - $30 per month for prescription medicines for our pets. Why do most people think that paying it for insurance that could save you thousands is crazy? Last year I had 2 friends spend thousands of dollars saving their dogs. That's why I looked at insurance for mine. I bought it in January. In March Leo got sick. My out of pocket expense was less than $150. The insurance company paid the rest. Sorry for the long rant. I'll shut up now.
Jody